


Impersonation

by corvidConstellation



Series: HDM!parx [2]
Category: Waterparks (Band)
Genre: (technically) - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Anxiety Disorder, Double Dare Era, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ottoparks, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24313180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvidConstellation/pseuds/corvidConstellation
Summary: If you asked, Otto would tell you that Ottoparks is a last resort, and that would be true, because in all honesty, he was sort of peer-pressured into it in the first place.
Relationships: Awsten Knight & Geoff Wigington & Otto Wood
Series: HDM!parx [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755154
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Impersonation

**Author's Note:**

> Awsten - scissor-tailed flycatcher - Fletcher  
> Otto - asian golden cat - Terraxir  
> Geoff - dalmation - Eviredium  
> Jawn - hummingbird - Damara  
> Lucas - lammergeier - Periychi  
> Zakk - pallid bat - Layta

**L O N D O N 2 0 1 7**

Otto feels his chest seize up, like there’s a boa constrictor around him, or like someone’s strapping on a vest too tightly, or like anxiety. It’s probably that last one.

“Please,” Awsten rasps.

Though he should be used to it, Otto winces. Awsten sounds terrible. This cold, or flu - whatever it is - has torn his throat to shreds. He coughs whenever he sucks air down wrong, and they already had to bail out of soundcheck because every time Awsten tried to hit any notes vaguely resembling high-pitched, his voice cracked and he had to stop to clear his throat and catch his breath. Even when he was trying vocal warmups about ten minutes ago, he could barely make a fucking noise. He sounded god-awful.

But that doesn’t mean Otto would be any better.

“I don’t know if I can,” Otto says. “It’s your— what about Fletcher, what if she sang?”

Awsten glances back and leans his body forward. From the hood of his black hoodie, there’s a small movement and Fletcher, Awsten’s daemon, pulls herself up to Awsten’s shoulder. “I–“

Otto takes a sharp breath in. He didn’t think it was possible to sound worse than Awsten, but her voice is barely a whisper of a thing. He feels a brushing press against his leg and without looking, he knows that Terraxir is just as shocked as he is.

“We can’t,” Awsten says quietly. He can’t speak many words. What he chooses to say counts. “For real. Please, nobody else can sing the notes. Otto.”

“Stop talking,” Otto pleads. “I already know everything you’re telling me. You’re just hurting yourself.”

“Please,” Awsten begs. “C’mon man.”

“I can’t sing like you can,” Otto says.

“I can—” Awsten stops, coughing. “If I sang the low parts, would you consider it? Please?”

“What if it’s worse than cancelling?” Otto asks. “What if me going out there…”

“You’re not worse. And we have to. It’s _Hammersmith Apollo_.”

And Otto knows that, obviously. All fucking day, crew has been buzzing about this, about being able to perform in Hammersmith fucking Apollo, where David Bowie and Rush and Iron Maiden and fucking Queen recorded live shows. Miles Davis. Elton John. Bob Dylan. So much hype about being able to play this venue. It’s practically European Madison Square Garden. And of course, that hype was exciting for SWMRS and ATL, but that was only because they had functional singers. Instead, when the crew patted Waterparks on the back and said “ _Lot of history in this building,_ ” it felt like more of a threat than anything.

It’s just too much pressure.

“We could ask to reschedule,” Otto says desperately. “Come back in a few months. We could do something else.”

Awsten gives a pause at that. He glances at the green room walls around them, considers. “Lucas,” he finally whispers, looking up at Otto to see if he needs to explain.

But Otto already understands. “I’ll go ask. You should— you should lie down. Just in case it makes you feel better.”

The look Awsten gives him is dubious at best. They both know Awsten’s symptoms at this point, how he’s got a dull headache and his fever’s burning up and worst of all his throat, which barely works for talking. How Fletcher somehow has the worst of it, shaky and weak and cold. How resting all afternoon didn’t help a bit. How there’s absolutely no way either of them can be the frontman of Waterparks for the show in an hour’s time.

“Just in case it helps,” Otto repeats weakly.

Obediently, Awsten shuffles over and sits on the couch, dropping his head onto the cushions. He can see Fletcher shiver, fluff her feathers, and lean into the crook of Awsten’s neck. God, they’re _really_ fucking sick. Otto feels awful for making Awsten feel worse.

That guilt is what makes him move.

Terra steps away from his leg and heads for the door. “Otto,” she mutters.

Otto doesn’t need convincing. He just needs another second to stare.

And then he turns, and opens the door for his daemon, and leaves.

* * *

It’s not hard to find Lucas. It never is. The Hammersmith Apollo is intimidating and confusing, but Lucas’s job is to solve problems, so being easy-to-find is something he’s used to. That being said, the giant orange bone-crushing vulture on his shoulder helps with visibility.

He finds Lucas in a huddle with Jawn and Geoff down the hall, close to the venue’s path to the tech booth at the back of the theater. They’re not hard to spot from a distance either; Eviredium is a big dalmation that stands out in any crowd and Damara always catches light with her iridescent feathers.

Jawn notices Otto approaching first. “Hey. How is he?”

“Well. He doesn’t sound good,” Otto says hesitantly.

Nobody expected anything else - Awsten hasn’t been able to hit notes all day - but somehow, Jawn deflates.

“Lucas, I have a question for you,” Otto says. He feels nervous about even asking, but he can’t not. “Uh. Is there, like, any chance that we could cancel our set and promise to reschedule? After the rest of the tour dates.”

Lucas presses his lips together. “How much money do you want to lose?”

“But if we rescheduled,” Otto tries. “Instead of refunds?”

“I think cancelling an opening act is harder than you think it is. If we postpone your act only, some of the audience will ask for a refund for the whole event, and then they got to see All Time Low for free. Booking another date at the Hammersmith is— I’m not sure how we could even try to make that happen,” Lucas says. He glances at his phone, sighs and shoves it in his pocket. “I guess I’m saying that it’s possible to have just SWMRS open. Wouldn’t be the end of the world. It’s just— I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s not in your financial interest, I guess.”

Otto bites his lip. “I’ll— I don’t want to cause a fuss. This isn’t Awsten’s fault. I’ll do it if I have to.”

He can feel everyone staring at him, so he crosses his arms. He glances down at Terra to see how she’s doing, but she’s standing beside him, and a little bit behind. Her fur is fluffed out, but she’s staring thoughtfully at the ground and isn’t visibly freaked-out enough to warrant concern.

“That’s what everyone’s thinking, right?” Otto asks worriedly. He looks around at daemons, trying to judge what they’re actually thinking. But he just can’t tell. It’s impossible to read them when he himself is so frantic. “I can do it.”

“That’s—” Jawn cuts himself off, shakes his head. “This isn’t my decision. At all. I’m gonna go— I’ll be with Awsten. I can’t weigh in on this one. Whatever you choose is— yeah.”

Otto watches Jawn walk away, back to the green room.

“Hey, Otto,” Geoff starts. His voice is quiet and careful, but he’s not trying to be secretive. Just sensitive. Geoff’s a sweetheart that way. “I don’t wanna freak you out, but have you… Have you thought about what agreeing to this means?”

“Singing for three thousand people who didn’t ask me to?” Otto asks, confused.

“Uh. Yeah,” Geoff says. “But it’s… pretty traditional for frontmen to have their daemons onstage.”

Otto’s eyes widen. He hadn’t even thought about that, which is ridiculous, because that whole thing was the center of his obsession when he was a teenager and Gerard Way shook the music industry by performing the whole of The Black Parade era without his daemon anywhere to be seen. MCR’s, like, his favorite band.

_How could he forget that?_

He looks down at Terra in shock, and she’s staring right back at him. For him, being in the literal spotlight is not a dream come true. That’s not why he performs. He performs because he loves pounding the shit out of drums with his best friends and making music that’s loud and real and alive. It’s not about being front-and-center and adored. Being the drummer behind a kit usually mitigates that. He’d thought he’d be okay with being the center of attention for one night. But then again. The thought of her being seen—

Terra doesn’t like talking to strangers. She doesn’t even like being _seen_ by strangers. She’s just… private by nature. So being in front of that many people, and disappointing them instantly, would be…

“I—” Otto starts talking and closes his mouth suddenly. He’s already made up his mind. He can’t let them waste time fretting. “It’s cool. We’ve done this before.”

“For one song, and when I broke my fucking hand,” Geoff whispers.

“So?” Otto asks on autopilot, but his head is racing. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do. It’s a very different situation. On Warped, they had to kill set time because Silver just plain doesn’t work with one guitar. So doing a shitty improvised cover of Beverly Hills with Otto as the star was… it was the solution they came up with. That was a _joke_. But this isn’t a show for a bunch of sweaty punks who can go see another set if they get bored. These people paid to see them. To see Awsten and all his performer glory, and how he can command a stage with nothing but a mic and his wit.

“Otto,” Geoff says gently. And he reaches his arms out, too.

Otto steps closer, wrapping his arms around Geoff. “I’m okay,” he says, even if he doesn’t strictly believe that. “It’s all in my head.”

What tips Otto off is that Geoff is being gentle. Geoff always hugs too hard, too rough, with hands that grab and pull without even thinking, because he forgets his own strength. Right now, Geoff’s hands are open and flat and careful against Otto’s back. Which means he’s really fucking worried. Which chips away at Otto’s declining self-confidence even more.

“We’re good then,” Otto says as he turns to Lucas. “You’ll tell them I’ll sing lead from the drums?”

“Yeah,” Lucas agrees.

“I’ll go ask if Awsten can still play,” Geoff announces. He lets his hand linger on Otto’s shoulder before he runs off too, Eviredium on his heels.

Otto lets out a deep breath.

He’s not so sure about this. He doesn’t have a choice.

“Hey,” Lucas says, drawing his attention. He lifts one arm invitingly (the one opposite of where Periychi has her claws securely dug into his thick coat).

Gratefully, Otto takes a couple steps to close the gap and falls into Lucas’s chest. Lucas’s arm comes down around his shoulders, tucking Otto close. And because Lucas’s job is to give them the low-down and regular reality checks, Otto lets his thoughts spill out. “What if I freak out? Or forget the words? Everyone will know. This could go so badly. Am I fucking up by agreeing to this?”

“You won’t freak out onstage,” Lucas says firmly. “You know the words. This is your band too. This is all just nerves, and when it’s over you’ll know you did the right thing. It’s not just a favor to Awsten. You’re saving us all a whole mess. The fans will love it.”

“One night only,” Otto mumbles into his jacket.

Lucas holds him up until he really does need to go talk to the venue management. It’s more than enough.

* * *

Otto’s walking down the halls back to the green room alone when a stranger pats his shoulder and says, “Congratulations!”

“What?” Otto chokes out. Surely people can’t know already—

But the tech guy just grins. “On playing the Hammersmith Apollo? All the big bands play here. Congrats on making it to the big leagues, kid!”

After a second too long, Otto makes himself smile.

The man walks away.

“Jesus,” Terra hisses.

“Fuck, we can’t do this,” he mutters, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. “Terra, we can’t do this. We need to tell everyone we can’t. Like, I’m sorry, but we’re just an opening act, can’t they deal without us?”

“It’s such a big thing. This is rock history,” Terra whispers. “We can’t not.”

“I can’t sing,” Otto retorts.

And then they just stare at each other.

“I can’t… Okay, so fine, I have to. But I can’t sing from the drums,” he says, quickly realizing it as he says it. “It’s the fucking Apollo, we can’t pull that shit here.”

“Zakk can play,” Terra says suddenly. “He knows all the Double Dare songs.”

“We have to ask him,” Otto says. “We have to-- God, Terra, what the fuck are we doing?”

“Let’s just…” Terra blows out a breath and drops her head momentarily. When she picks it up again, she stares right at Otto, and he can feel it, the way they’re both getting ready to be something they’re not. “Let’s go to the green room. Lucas will help.”

* * *

He hurries in, kinda-sorta shoving the door closed once he gets inside.

“Woah, hey Otto,” Jawn says with surprise.

Otto glances over the room to see who’s there, but luckily Zakk is present, standing with Geoff against the wall. “Zakk, could you fill in for me?”

Zakk does a fucking double take at that. “You’re bailing? Otto, what the fuck—”

“No, on drums,” Otto says. “Can you play drums so I can sing? You know all the songs from Double Dare, don’t you?”

“Oh. Yeah, I’ll go— you got sticks?” Zakk asks.

Otto nods and heads to the counter where he stashed his extra pair of drumsticks.

“So we’re really still doing the set?” Geoff asks. When Otto glances over his shoulder, Geoff is looking up nervously through his hair. “Are you, like, sure?”

Otto grabs the drumsticks and walks over to them. He puts out his hand holding the drumsticks for Zakk to take them. “We can’t not play this show.”

Zakk takes the sticks. “I’ve got your back.”

“Thanks,” Otto nods. “Then I guess we should get ready. We don’t have time for anything else.”

* * *

They line up by the staircase like usual. It doesn’t feel like it usually does, though. Nobody’s giving fistbumps or hyping each other up or laughing.

Awsten and Geoff both have guitars slung over their shoulders, resting low on their thighs. It’s been decided that though Otto’s a necessary replacement for vocals, there’s no way he can handle doing the guitar parts too.

Otto is in the middle of everyone, which is also unusual. It's making him a little claustrophobic. He usually takes to the back of the line, so that he can slip upstage and settle with the drums. But Zakk’s doing that. Tonight, he’s in the middle of everyone’s bustling with his daemon in his arms. She’s a huge feline that’s nearly a puma, barely smaller than a large dog, but there’s no alternative. With techs running around and Geoff and Awsten so close, he has to keep her close and away from everyone. So, he has her sitting her haunches on his clasped forearms, pressed up against his chest and leaning over one shoulder. (He doesn’t know how Geoff can just stand with Eviredium between him and a wall, that’s fucking insane.)

Someone passes by. “Full house out there,” the guy says. “Break a leg, guys.”

Honestly, Otto feels like crying. Instead, he buries his face in the fur of Terra’s chest. He feels like a kid again, using soft fur as something to ground him. He just needs to focus on something - anything - other than what he’s about to do.

“Otto?” Geoff asks instantly, shouting to be heard over the venue’s chatter.

“We’re okay,” Terra says. “Give him a second.”

That’s a lie. Terra’s scared too, and Otto can feel it at the core of his being. They’re just— they’re just so scared. They hear the crowd out there, restless as ever. That many people can turn into a riot so fast, and in his head it’s all but inevitable that he’s gonna fuck it up. How much vamping does one do? How many jokes does one make between songs? Does Awsten have it down to a science, and Otto just hasn’t been paying attention? How do you explain to a crowd that ‘ _the one you want can’t talk right now, I’m here instead’_? Or does he not mention it at all?

A hand comes up to touch his shoulder blade.

Otto lifts his head and turns, catching Awsten’s eye. Awsten looks more serious than Otto’s seen in a long time. Dead serious. He can’t quite tell what it means. If it’s a thank-you, or a steadying touch, or a silent pep-talk, or a warning, or a threat, or an offer to call it quits.

“I’m good,” he says before he can think about it.

And then, suddenly, he realizes that he can just bullshit everything. Talk without thinking, and deal with whatever the consequences may be later. His default mode is comedy, so he can just pretend he’s joking around at soundcheck. If he ignores everyone in the house—

“It’ll be okay,” Otto says. He glances around, but techs have stopped passing by. Terra slides from his arms, landing easily beside him. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

He wishes the show was a blur. Instead, it’s a painfully long experience. He’s so used to letting shows pass and watching Awsten perform.

Awsten performs like… like he was born for it. Like the crowd paid hundreds to be here, and like they owe it to him to sing every word as loud as they can. He jumps and bounces in place, completely loose and lost in the music. When he’s not playing guitar too, he picks up the mic and darts from stage right to stage left, singing out to the audience. And always, Fletcher flies around him like a tornado with pinpoint aerial precision. She can swoop around and change direction on a dime, doing flips and stunts and swooping around with a flair only to land politely between songs (often either on an empty mic stand or on Awsten’s shoulder, or occasionally Otto’s kit.

Today, Fletcher lays in Awsten’s hood, and Otto stands at the mic stand.

Fortunately, when they finish _Made in America_ , nobody boos him for not belting the last note. The crowd cheers excitedly as Otto heaves in heavy breaths.

He swallows, looks around the dark crowd. He always thought that they were just hard to see because he couldn’t see past his kit, but the stage lights are so bright that he can’t make out anyone past the security at the barricade.

One other thing he hasn’t figured out quite yet is how much Terra should be moving. He wonders if she should be prowling the stage, tangling around his feet like a showman. So far she’s sat herself down in front of the mic stand and stares out past the stage lights.

Finally, the crowd’s cheering dies down. “Hey there,” Otto says into the mic. “Off to a good start! Y’all ready for tonight?”

They cheer in response.

“Yeah, cool! Cause it would be pretty bad for us if you weren’t,” he jokes, widening his eyes for emphasis.

Luckily, they laugh and whoop and cheer anyway.

“We’re Waterparks from Texas! And here’s a song called _Hawaii_ ,” Otto says, backing up from the mic as the intro plays over the speakers. The instrumental is just long enough for him to back up and let his bandmates run the show for a second.

He thinks about how his voice is too soft, how he can’t sing as strong as Awsten can, and about how everyone has to listen.

And then he opens his mouth and sings anyway.

_“I was bitter but I’m fine now_

_I pulled my head out from this dark cloud._

_It was easy enough, but— but_

_It was all too much.”_

* * *

As preoccupied as he is with how badly he must be doing, Otto tries to pay attention to his bandmates.

He takes advantage of Geoff’s verse in Crave to back up from the mic and look at them. Geoff looks far too still, sticking to stage right. Even when he’s not singing, he doesn’t cross behind Otto, and Otto’s not sure if it’s an attempt not to spook him or not to mess with Awsten, but it’s a little unsettling to see him so still. In comparison, Awsten’s moving a lot more than usual, but admittedly, that’s what he always does whenever he isn’t tied down to a mic stand. Stage lights flash on his fogging glasses, which he’s wearing because his eyes are too strained to not wear them. Awsten smiles, but Otto catches the shine of sweat and knows it’s more than he should be sweating during their third song. Especially when he’s not singing. He doesn’t dare to turn around and look at Zakk.

There’s not enough time to think about it though, because Geoff’s already at “ _by night I’m left with nothin’ but a sour taste._ ”

Otto slides back to the mic and holds it with both hands, singing “ _I wish I could forget you, but it’s outta’ hand. I’d give all kinds of something to have a plan._ ”

This song is easy, though. Even the bridge isn’t that high comparatively. What he’s worried about is the next song in the setlist, because even Awsten has a hard time nailing the “hey” in Stupid For You, and that’s on a good day with a good singer. Otto has neither of those going for him right now.

He wonders if there’s some gesture he can give to covertly skip that one. Tech can figure out how to rearrange the backing tracks, right? Maybe Lucas could arrange something, since he’s right there, in between the barricade and the stage. Otto only needs to glance down to find him, because it’s easy with Periychi’s feathers shining from stage lights. But asking him would mean interrupting the flow of the show, and Otto’s just not sure it’s worth the trouble.

And then he watches Geoff and Awsten hop and spin around playing guitars, and he admits to himself that changing the setlist mid-show is too much to ask.

He keeps singing.

* * *

Towards the end, he’s sweating and looser than he had been. Otto honestly can’t tell if it’s because he’s too tired to worry or if he’s finally gotten used to this. He bounces side to side during Mad All the Time to Geoff’s off-beat chords as he tries to get the bridge’s words out fast enough, and he’s headbanging along to Royal when Zakk and Geoff sing his ‘ _woah-oh-oh oh-woah_ ’s.

And then he sings the last “ _I wish I was royal but I’m not._ ”

Geoff keeps playing the last ringing high notes.

“Thank you so much, we’re Waterparks, have a wonderful night!” Otto yells into the mic as the last notes ring out.

For the first time in the past half hour, Terra stands up and jumps over the wires and cords and towards the edge of the stage. Otto follows her hurriedly, slipping off stage and into the hallway.

SWMRS is waiting to take the stage, the four of them looking with concerned looks as Otto passes.

“Hey, Otto—” Cody begins.

“I’m gonna crash, have a good set,” Otto says breathlessly, hurrying to follow Terra. She’s running off and he can’t be far from her. He’s never been good at keeping his distance, but he has no choice but to follow when she pulls on their bond like this, bounding ahead. “Terra,” he shouts as they jog through halls. “Terra, hold up!”

She doesn’t respond, just keeps running until she skids to a stop in front of the back door.

He hardly stops either, pushing it open for the both of them. From there they speed walk up to the bus and climb on, making quickly for their bunk. Otto slides into the tiny bunk and holds the curtain open just long enough for Terra to leap up and settle on his chest. She barely fits. She usually sleeps with Eviredium. But right now, when she’s shaking a little with adrenaline, he just yanks the curtains closed and wraps his arms around her. They breathe hard, shaky from running and from performing and from nerves. He laughs a little, digging his fingers into her fur. It takes what feels like an eternity for their breathing to calm down, and even longer until his hands stop shaking so bad, but when they finally do, he heaves out a long sigh and tips his head back. “So, that could’ve gone worse. They could’a booed us offstage.”

“If Awsten doesn’t get better, we’ll have to do it again tomorrow.”

Otto freezes, sucking in a breath.

Terra butts her head under his chin.

He just holds on and forces himself to keep breathing. They fall asleep like that a few minutes later, and nobody bothers them for the rest of the night.

* * *

  
  


Otto wakes up to the sound of light conversation and the sway of a moving bus. Instinctively, he tries to roll over and go back to bed, but there’s a weight on his chest. Terra.

“Oh,” he mutters almost silently. He can’t see her in the dark, but he can certainly hear her breath and feel her fur when she’s so close.

They don’t need to talk to agree to get up, though. Otto’s a little restless, figuring he’s slept through the night. He pulls the curtain and lets Terra hop down and out of the way before he follows, rubbing his eyes. Ugh, his hair’s all sweat-greasy. He definitely should have taken a shower last night. He feels like it’s Warped all over again. The thought is only compounded when he has to step over Eviredium’s sleeping body on the floor to head to the lounge.

A couple seconds later, he realizes the background chatter has completely cut out.

He turns around, spotting a whole bunch of people chilling in the front of the bus next to the TV and the fridge. Awsten, Lucas, Max, and Jawn are all staring at him.

“Hey,” Otto says.

“Good morning,” Awsten says. Fletcher flies up from the counter and lands on his shoulder, looking at Otto with a curious tilt of the head.

Otto feels his eyes widen, and he’s suddenly much more awake. “Holy shit, your voice!”

“Yeah,” Awsten says with a grin. “I—”

“Shut the fuck up before you fuck up your vocal rest,” Jawn says.

“Really,” Lucas agrees, staring sternly at Awsten. “If you’re gonna try for tonight, you really can’t mess with it right now.”

“You’re gonna—?” Otto doesn’t care that Awsten is still sick and probably contagious, he hurries across the bus and pulls Awsten into his arms. “Fuck yeah. God, please never ever do that to us again.”

“I’m sorry,” Awsten whispers. He hugs back for a good moment before patting Otto’s back gently, and Otto pulls back to look him in the eye. “I’m really sorry.”

“So not your fault,” Otto says. “Just— I really don’t want your job.”

“Thanks for doing it, though,” Awsten whispers. “Meant so much to me.”

“Stop talking, I don’t want to sing onstage, like, ever,” Otto chuckles. “Where’s Geoff at?”

“Sleeping. He’s fine, he just wouldn’t stop worrying about you last night. He tried to stay up in case you had a crisis, but he fell asleep waiting,” Lucas says.

Otto smiles instantly. “Aw, that’s adorable.”

“How are you holding up?” Max asks. When Otto turns to him, Max scratches his head subconsciously and glances away. “I mean, we were all kinda worried. Getting thrown onstage isn’t something I would wish on anyone. Lots of pressure, y’know.”

“Yeah. I know,” Otto mutters quietly. He thinks about it for a moment and looks back at Jawn and Lucas and Awsten. “But you know, I think I’m alright.”

“Yeah?” Jawn asks.

“Yeah, pretty sure,” Otto says. “Like, it was bad for sure. But I’m not scarred for life or anything. I’ll get back on stage tonight and drum. I only ran off because I like, really needed to be alone. I’m not used to people looking at me, and that was my state of being for, like, a whole show.”

“Definitely got thrown into the deep end,” Max agrees. “Fucking respect, man.”

“Thanks,” Otto grins. “I should thank Zakk too, he really stepped up.”

“Go wake up Geoff first,” Lucas says. “Zakk’s just hanging in the back with Cole and Joey and Seb. He can wait.”

“Geoff doesn’t need the sleep?”

“He needs some fuckin peace of mind,” Jawn says. Then his eyes flicker over to Awsten. “Don’t you dare fucking speak just to make a joke about Geoff needing a ‘peace’ of _Otto’s ass_ , I swear to fucking god.”

Otto barks out a laugh, but laughs even harder when he turns to look at Awsten who is actually glaring at Jawn. He puts out an arm and squeezes Awsten’s shoulder before he heads back to the hallway.

“I’ve got this,” Terra says before laying down next to Vir, pressing up against her side. The contact makes Vir twitch and shift in her sleep, but Terra is pretty insistent about getting into Vir’s space.

Sure enough, Vir opens her eyes slowly and blinks rapidly when she notices who’s there. “Terra?”

And then, there’s a loud sudden shuffle and a bunk curtain is yanked back and Geoff is blinking at the light but grasping at the edge of his bunk. “Otto,” he says.

“Mornin’, Geoff,” Otto chuckles.

“Hey, how are you?” Geoff asks. He slides out of his bunk and straightens his shirt subconsciously. “I was trying to stay awake—”

“Yeah no, Lucas told me,” Otto says. “I’m fine. Just needed a bit to breathe.”

“You’re sure?” Geoff asks. “I was watching you on stage and Terra wasn’t moving at all.”

“I was thinking T-rex logic,” Terra admits from the floor. “Like, if I stayed still, they’d get used to me being there and not notice anymore. Also, I don’t know how to dance?”

“Yeah, me neither,” Geoff agrees. “I just go for it like a loser. But really, Otto. You’re good?”

“Yeah, for sure. Awsten’s gonna try singing tonight. I might help out with singing along but I’ll be on drums so I’ll be okay.”

Geoff nods and drags Otto into a hug, rough and firm and familiar. “Cool. Oh, by the way, you were really great singing out there. I’m really proud of you.”

Otto rolls his eyes and hugs him back. “Thanks, buddy."

**Author's Note:**

> Info ripped from this interview and this website:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag7HLQKjfE8&list=PL-fmhI77_EPe8joHew9vjm_Nk4wBXy5HO&index=27  
> https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/all-time-low--155#
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments make my day :)


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